By SUSAN JONES

As Pitt gets ready to build its first new residence hall since 2013, another temporary student housing venue is going away.

Today is the last day that people can park at the RA lot, which is the site of the planned 450-bed residence hall for first-year students that Pitt hopes to open by fall 2028. Site preparation work is slated to start June 15. The University presented the plan for the building to the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment on June 11.

Meanwhile, the Hampton Inn on Hamlet Street that Pitt leased last year to house 250 students will no longer be used by the University. Pitt is ending the lease this summer after the city’s Zoning Board ruled that the school would need a new permit to lease the hotel, determining that using hotel rooms for student housing amounted to dormitory use.

Pitt has leased hotels in the past for student housing. It was not clear why this case was different.

“Pitt's lease with the owner of the Hampton Inn was always intended as a short-term, temporary arrangement while the University explored long-term housing solutions,” a Pitt spokesman said. But as recently as May the University said it was evaluating the number of students that may be placed at the Hampton Inn for the upcoming academic year.

The students who were originally scheduled to live in the Hampton have been reassigned, either to Irvis Hall or they entered a special housing selection process and chose a dorm room available on campus.

More housing needed

The need for more student housing remains acute. Last fall’s largest first-year class ever of around 5,800 students resulted in Pitt leasing space at the Hampton and two other locations — the Pennsylvania and Webster apartments on Dithridge Street — to add 400 beds to its inventory. Pitt will continue the lease at the Pennsylvania but not Webster. Nearly 300 beds also were added at Pitt-owned buildings by converting some doubles to triples and triples to quads.

While the incoming class for fall 2026 is not expected to be as large as last year, a University spokesman said, “The demand for a Pitt education has never been higher, and we are actively exploring housing options to meet it — including recently announced plans for a new residence hall at Fifth and Ruskin avenues — ensuring we remain well-positioned for the future.”

Starting this fall, incoming students will be guaranteed housing for two years, instead of the previous three years.

Pitt went before the Zoning Board to get a variance on the new nine-story residence hall, because it sits an Education, Medical, Institutional (EMI) zoning district.

It will replace a parking lot that surrounds the Music Building — bordered by Fifth, Bellefield and Ruskin avenues.

In addition to eliminating 64 parking spaces, the construction will mean that temporary classroom trailers and an addition to the Music Building annex will be torn down. That area also has an emergency generator, which will be replaced with one in the new building that will service it and the Music Building. And a wooden ramp for ADA accessibility will be will be cleaned up with with a sloped concrete walkway, Gina Bleck, vice chancellor for planning, design and construction, told the zoning board.

The zoning presentation provided a few more details about the building and construction project.

Entrance: The main entrance to the housing part of the building will be on Ruskin Avenue toward the corner furthest from Fifth Avenue. The restaurant entrance will be on that same side but closer to Fifth.

Restaurant: The ground-floor restaurant will be two-stories tall with windows facing out to Fifth Avenue. While it will be included in the student meal exchange program, it also will be open to the public, including students who live in apartments in the area.

“We would hope that the public would use it,” said Matthew Sterne, vice chancellor for business services. “There's not a lot of dining located in this part of the campus.”

It will have three dining concepts: A bakery, open 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekends; a hot and cold prepared foods bar, like ones found in Whole Foods or Wegmans, open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekends; and Uncommon Noodle, a faux ramen concept, that will only be open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Bicycle storage: The building will have no parking for vehicles, but will have 84 indoor spaces for bicycles along the North Bellefield Avenue side; 12 outdoor covered spaces along North Bellefield; and 20 outdoor spaces along Ruskin Avenue.

Loading dock: The area for deliveries for the restaurant, primarily, and for garbage pick up will be between the new residence hall and Ruskin Hall, which sits behind it. Garbage trucks will enter via Ruskin, with deliveries coming from Bellefield. All mail and package delivery would be along Ruskin Avenue.

Alexis Wheeler, an attorney for the homeowners association for two North Bellefield  buildings — the Bristol co-op and Bellefield Place apartments — testified that residents don’t object to the special exception request sought by Pitt, but they do have concerns and requests, including:

• Making all loading accessible from Ruskin Avenue only.

• Making sure there is no vehicle ownership for any occupants in this building, even in the future. Although first-year students can’t bring vehicles to campus, the groups are concerned that the building could house upperclassmen at some future date.

• Developing a traffic flow plan for bikes and pedestrians along Bellfield Avenue, specifically when students are retrieving and storing bikes. A resident of the Bristol testified that the location of the bicycle storage area right onto North Bellefield is a concern, since many of his neighbors are senior citizens. “It's a particular concern because even now there seems to be little policing, either by the Pittsburgh police or the University, about the uses of scooters, bicycles and electronic scooters on the streets and on the sidewalks,”

• Screening exterior mechanical equipment in an aesthetic way that also limits noise.

The zoning board has 45 days to rule on the exception.

Bleck pointed out that, “We are pressed for time and are trying to get to student housing in an expedited fashion.”

The new building also will go before the Historic Review Commission on July 1, and the Planning Commission on July 11 for a briefing and July 28 for a hearing.

Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.

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